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Jeff Matthews: Wetland Delineation Course

Jeff Matthews, an affiliate of the Wetland Science Group, is an Assistant Professor of Applied Plant Ecology in the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois. He participates in lectures, advises graduate and undergraduate research and teaches. Dr. Matthews has been teaching a Wetland Delineation and Classification course at the University of Illinois since 2008. This field-based class is designed to teach mastery of wetland delineation—the application of the federal methodology for identifying and mapping wetlands in the field. In the course of learning this skill, students are also introduced to broader content including basic wetland ecology and environmental policy. The course is broken down into a series of milestones that reflect steps in the federal procedure, and it culminates in a project requiring students to work in groups to repeat the entire process in the field, delineating a wetland on their own. After graduation, former students in the class have found jobs in the environmental consulting industry, delineating wetlands as a career.